Lazarus Boora

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Lazarus Boora popularly known as 'Gringo' is an award winning popular Zimbabwean actor who hogged the limelight in 1997 when he featured on Enock Chihombori's drama series 'Gringo' as the lead character.

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Background

He was born on the 18th of October 1973 in a village called Rukweza in Nyanga. He is married and has five children.

Education

Boora did his primary education at Rukweza Primary School and Glen View Number Two Primary Schools. He then went on to do his secondary education at Tafara High School in Mabvuku. Boora attended Mutare Teachers' College were he studied drama. To further his education in the arts, he later on enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe where he studied theatre and dance.[1]

Acting career

Booora's passion for acting started in primary school whilst doing his fourth grade back in 1984. One teacher, Mr. Sangare was quick to notice his potential and encouraged him to pursue his dream. When he finished school Boora followed this dream that saw him join various theatrical clubs in Mabvuku. The groups include Yamaguchi drama club and Tamuka Theatrical Arts. Having learned the basis of acting, he soon joined Avondale based Reps Theatre in 1993. It is here that his professionalism in acting was honed.[2] Never satisfied with his position, he joined a marketing company called The People’s Roadshow. His job was to communicate with audiences using short plays, sketches and DJ skills. After a while, in 1996, he joined Screentalent, an acting club in Harare for a year after which he made a debut on television. He acted a minor role as a Junior Policeman in Aaron Chiundura Moyo’s popular television drama series 'Chihwerure'. The series showed on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation Television.

Gringo Series

In the same year, he met Enock Chihombori who had joined Screentalent. The latter was a cartoonist for a weekly newspaper, Kwayedza. His main cartoon character was Gringo and he decided to write a television script based upon the character in 1997. That is when Boora became prominent when he played the leading 'Gringo' role in the series. When he was given the role, he was not even auditioned as he had showed his talent in 'Chihwerure'.[3] He was to become a leading character in all the following series such as 'Gringo Ndiani' (2001), 'Gringo Mari iripi' (2003) and the latest 'Gringo-Troublemaker' in 2013. Boora said he was at his best in the latter which was a feature film.[4]

Awards

Gringo's Son

His son, Taurai Boora is following his father's footsteps in the arts industry. The talented young man has amazing footwork and acting career.[5] At one point he was even hired by the Dembo Brothers. While many fathers would love their son to follow their footsteps, Gringo in 2013 banned his son from acting citing poor returns.[6]

Gringo Death Rumours

Around 22 February 2017, rumours started circulating on social media that Lazarus Boora had passed away after website Zimbojam published an article saying he was dead. However, the publication retracted the story and apologised for the story saying that they had been misinformed. The actor himself said:

You are the second person calling me with news of my death and yet am alive and well here at my home in Hatfield.
I don’t know who would want me dead but pamwe kuda ndokuti mazuva angu awedzerwe panyika (maybe it’s so that I can have a long life)